Such juicers are well known, and the present invention is especially relevant to a class of such juicers in which an arm, pivotally mounted to a casing which encloses the electric motor and supports the reamer, carries a hollow pressing member which is intended to be lowered by the arm so as to press a half-fruit onto the reamer and thereby facilitate the juice-extraction process. Typically, the pressing member is formed as a hollow cone, or a portion of a cone, and such juicers are described, for example, in FR-A-1164016 and EP-A-0226691.
It will be appreciated that the use of arm-assisted citrus juicers of the above kind can pose problems, since the juicing process has to start with the arm raised, so that the fruit to be pressed can be introduced into place above the reamer, and appliances known to date have thus provided spring assistance to ensure that the arm always returns to its fully raised position after use. This means that the appliance, as a whole, has a height which is disproportionate to its other dimensions; this being a particular nuisance when the appliance is stored and out of use, or in transit. It also means that, if the spring assistance is powerful enough to reliably fully raise the lever, it tends to be sufficient to cause a strong reaction on the appliance as a whole when the arm reaches its fully raised position and encounters a mechanical stop. This reaction may well be strong enough to result in a physical shift of the appliance, depending to an extent on the nature of the surface on which the appliance is supported. Even if this does not happen, however, the reaction can create a jolt, which is disconcerting for the user.